8. In order to insure that censors may, in all cases, be informed thoroughly and correctly as to the contents of radio messages coming under their censorship, they will demand, when necessary, that such messages be presented for their ruling in a language that is understandable to them. 9. At such radio stations where the censor is not actually present at the station when messages are received by the radio station for forwarding either by radio or other means, messages may pass provided they are unmistakably of a neutral character, without being first referred to the censor, but the operating company will be held responsible for the compliance by their operators with these instructions. The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Navy (Daniels) DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 19, 1914. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of November 7, 1914, transmitting a copy of regulations and instructions prepared in your Department, which it is proposed to substitute for previous regulations governing radio communication that are now in force, as a consequence of the President's Executive Order of August 5, 1914. In reply I have the honor to state that the Department is not in a position to determine the practical or technical questions involved in these regulations, but assumes that the experience of the Navy Department in supervising radio communication since August 5 last has shown the advisability and desirability of the proposed new regulations. From the point of view of our foreign relations no objection to the proposed regulations occurs to the Department at the present time. I have [etc.] ROBERT LANSING OBSERVANCE OF NEUTRALITY BY OTHER AMERICAN STATES File No. 763.72111/478 The Consul at Barranquilla (Manning) to the Secretary of State AMERICAN CONSULATE, Barranquilla, October 3, 1914. [Received October 17.] SIR: I have the honor to inform you that there recently arrived in this city a gentleman who gave his name as Grant [Gaunt?] and claimed to be a captain in the British Navy and in conversation with the writer said he was here looking after the "neutrality of the wireless stations, and wireless on non-neutral steamers interned in neutral ports." He claimed that the station belonging to the Telefunken Company at Cartagena had been performing non-neutral service, but it is the opinion of this Consulate that he found little on which to base his charges, as that station is now under close censorship. From an instruction received from the American Legation a few days ago, I am led to believe he made the same charges against the radio station at Santa Marta, belonging to the United Fruit Com 682 pany. I am pleased to state that I have a letter of absolute denial from Mr. Goldsmith Williams, acting manager of the United Fruit Company, and he assures me that their station has at no time performed any unneutral service and that they are permitted to transfer only such messages as may pertain to their own business, and messages of the Colombian Government. That this complaint probably came from the British Consulate here I have no doubt, and probably was in a measure personal spite against the company for having recently taken its financial agency away from the firm here of which the British Consul is an active member. I think it wise to place this matter before you at once, before it may be brought to your attention through the British Embassy there, to which I understand Captain Grant is attached, and which no doubt will be done, if Captain Grant accepts the charges against the Santa Marta station as having basis. I am very glad indeed to state that I have so far heard no complaints of any non-neutral acts on the part of any American interests in Colombia. I have [etc.] ISAAC A. MANNING File No. 763.72111/532 The Chargé d'Affaires in Argentina (Lorillard) to the Secretary of No. 356] State AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: During the past three months there have occurred two incidents which have indirectly affected Argentine neutrality in the present European war and which have caused considerable interest throughout the country, increasing the strong anti-German spirit reflected in all circles here. The first of these incidents concerns the alleged execution by German troops of the honorary Vice Consul of the Argentine Republic at Dinant, Belgium, on or about August 18 last. This official was a Belgian subject and one of the leading manufacturers of the city. It is alleged that he fired on German soldiers from his house. It is further alleged that the consular shield was broken, the Argentine flag pulled down, and the consular archives searched and destroyed. The Argentine Ministers at Berlin, Antwerp, and The Hague have been instructed to investigate this matter, but up to the present they have been unable to ascertain the exact facts of the case. The point of view of the Argentine Government is that, while it is possible that the Vice Consul might have been guilty of the charge of which it appears he was accused, there can be no possible excuse for the indignity to which the symbols of Argentine representation were said to have been submitted. The irresponsible journals as well as the students are urging the Government to take active measures in regard to this matter, but I am assured by prominent foreign office officials that no action will be taken until the charges have been proven and the German Government given an opportunity to fully explain the matter. The second incident results from the conduct of the survivors of the German auxiliary cruiser Cap Trafalgar which was destroyed by British steamers off the coast of Brazil. The vessel carrying the survivors to this port anchored in the roads last week and its officers refused to allow newspaper reporters and others to go on board, threatening them with boiling water. As a result of this action it appears that an excited newspaper man fired on the captain and a general disturbance then followed. The survivors of the Cap Trafalgar were finally taken in charge by the marines and conveyed to Martin Garcia Island where they will be interned until the end of the war. Another neutrality case of minor importance occurred a few days ago when a British freight steamer conveying coal to a German electric company at Santa Fé was captured by a British war vessel in the estuary of the River Plate, but undoubtedly over three miles from either the Argentine or Uruguayan shore. It is alleged that the commander of the British Fleet in South American waters recently informed the President of Uruguay that his Government would not recognize Argentina's clain that it controls the waters of the Plate excepting those within three miles of the Uruguayan shore, but this report has not been confirmed. The Argentine Government is closely following the terms of the Hague convention of 1907 governing neutrality. It appears, how, ever, that several of the belligerent powers are complaining of the manner in which neutrality provisions are observed here. The Argentine Embassy in Washington has cabled the substance of the instructions issued to Treasury officials and others by the United States Government. This Government wishes as far as possible to act in the same manner as ourselves respecting neutrality, although Argentina was not a party to the London Conference. I have [etc.] GEORGE LORILLARD File No. 763.72111/534 The Ambassador in Brazil (Morgan) to the Secretary of State No. 466] AMERICAN EMBASSY, Rio de Janeiro, October 7, 1914. SIR: Since the outbreak of the present European war, for several reasons, the Brazilian Government has found difficulty in maintaining its neutrality against the attempts of the belligerent powers, their nationals and their friends in Brazil, to frustrate the measures which it has taken to that end. Moreover, largely on account of the influence of French civilization here manners, customs, art, and literature-the sentiment of all the States, except those in the south, is mainly with the Allies. It is reported that the German colonists in 684 the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catharina are, in one way The character of the popular sentiment has been shown not only in the press but also in the Chamber of Deputies where Dr. Irineu Machado, a member of the opposition, has delivered a stirring speech in favor of France and has also taken an active part in a charity fête for the benefit of the families of French reservists who have gone to the front from this country. More recently, an equally strong appeal for Germany was made in the Chamber by Dr. Dunshee de Abranches. Because of his position as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, his oration gave greater offense than that of Dr. Irineu Machado, since he appeared to speak for the Government, which, of course, he was not justified in doing. So strong, indeed, was public feeling against his attitude that his resignation as chairman of the committee was accepted as soon as it was offered and his successor was appointed. Whether a speech in favor of the Allies would have produced the same popular protest is a matter of speculation The presence in the Brazilian ports of a number of refugee German merchant vessels has occasioned the Brazilian Government considerable embarrassment. Consul Griffith of Pernambuco has already reported to the Department (in his despatch No. 293 of September 141) the behavior of the German steamer Patagonia, which on September 13, in disobedience to the orders of the captain of the port, suddenly and surreptitiously put to sea and was unsuccessfully chased by the Brazilian destroyer Rio Grande do Sul. The Hamburg-American steamers, Santa Lucia and Preussen, have also given trouble. After the captain of the port of Rio de Janeiro had allowed them to clear for Santos on the understanding that they were only freighted with sufficient coal and stores to proceed there, they put to sea for an unknown destination and arrived at Santos some three weeks after they sailed from here, having meantime supplied the necessities of the two German converted passenger vessels, Kronprinz Wilhelm and Cap Trafalgar. In accordance with an executive decree which was framed to meet their case, the two vessels in question are detained at Santos until the close of the war. The waters around several groups of islands off the Brazilian coast have offered convenient places of refuge for both British and German cruisers. The lofty island of Trinidad was for some three weeks the base of operation of a group of German vessels assembled from North America, South Africa, and the River Plate for the purpose of fitting out as an armed cruiser the Hamburg South American liner Cap Trafalgar. It was near this island that the Cap Trafalgar received the guns and gun crew of the gunboat Eber, and coal and stores from the Santa Lucia and Berwind. In consequence of the unneutral use to which they have been put, the Brazilian Government, by an executive decree of September 30, arranged that mixed garrison of soldiers and sailors should be stationed on the islands of Trinidad and Fernando Noronha. The islands of the Abrolhos, between Victoria and Bahia, are the base where a British cruiser is guarding several captured German merchantmen. A member of the Embassy staff, who passed those islands on a Lloyd Brazil 1 Not printed. 1 お eiro vessel last Saturday, reports that there were probably five or six of these German freighters, as well as two British colliers. It is not unfair to assume that the wireless installation on board the German merchant vessels in Brazilian ports has transmitted much information to German warships. The Brazilian authorities have attempted to stop this practice but have only partially succeeded. Under the regulations in force, belligerent merchant vessels in harbor can only use their wireless apparatus during the first fortyeight hours of their sojourn. After this period the apparatus must be disconnected and the operating cabins sealed. The Government wireless stations on land during the last month have been forbidden to transmit code messages. The Western Telegraph Company will only accept cablegrams en clair in the English and French languages, code addresses not being allowed. In spite of these precautions, Í have reason to believe that considerable information filters out to the warships of all the belligerents. I have [etc.] EDWIN V. MORGAN The Colombian Legation to the Secretary of State MEMORANDUM The annexed copies or abstracts of Executive decrees tell by themselves how the Colombian Government has acted and in fact succeeded to prevent the use of radio stations for unneutral purposes. The decrees are:1 A. August 22. Providing for dismantling of radio apparatuses on C. September 11. Closing Cartagena station for alleged trans- D. September 17. Contract with an expert for the operation of the station, with stringent clauses. It is possible, although not probable, that notwithstanding so careful endeavors to maintain due and equitable neutrality, the belligerents have been able to build concealed stations in unknown parts of inhabited coasts where no ships used to go. Such cases occur even in the United States where there are no large tracts of inhabited coasts covered with thick forests. If the British or French Governments have clear facts to be put before the Colombian Government at Bogotá, proving the violation of neutrality by persons resident in Colombia, they may be sure to obtain the most serious investigations to trace and punish the culprits. COLOMBIAN LEGATION, Washington, November 13, 1914. 'Not printed. |